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70-200 2.8 IS II vs. 85 1.2 II for Portraits?

Started Jun 29, 2013 | Discussions thread
Great Bustard Forum Pro • Posts: 45,641
Re: 70-200 2.8 IS II vs. 85 1.2 II for Portraits?
3

dprsok wrote:

The DOF for 200mm, F/2.8 at 10ft is about 1 inch.

For reference, we're talking about a frame height of 13.5 inches for such a framing -- in other words, a tight head shot.

It won't make any significant difference. Plus...with the 85mm, you will need to close the distance by more than half to get the same framing. Using the same focal length of 85mm, F1.2 only gets you 1/2 inch additional DOF over F/2.8.

The advantage of the faster lens is to get a shallow DOF with significantly wider framing, like a full body shot, as opposed to a tight head shot where you can't see much of the background, anyway.

For example, one probably wouldn't need, or want, f/1.2 for a framing like this:

But they might find it useful for a framing like this:

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